Wrench



(No Model.)

W. L. TOBEY.

WRENCH.

No. 380,785. Patented Apr. 10, 1888.

Fig-2 UNITED STATES PATENT Grrrcn.

XVILLIAM L. TOBEY, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,735, dated April 10, 1888.

Application filed January 3, 1888. Serial No. 259,632. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. TOBEY, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in \Vrenches, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a simple and efficient screw-wrench, which may be quickly adjusted to the approxi mate size of the nut to be turned, and may thereafter be made to closely clamp the said nut through the action of an adjusting-nut.

In my invention the movable jaw of the wrenchis fitted loosely to the shank of the stationary jaw, and the said movable jaw has a pocket for the reception loosely of the adjusting-nut, and the said movable jaw is also acted upon by a spring located with such relation to it and the threaded shank of the stationary jaw as to cause the threaded interior of the said adjusting-nut to normally engage the threads of the said shank. In practice the interior chamber of the adj usting-nut is enough greater than the cross-section of the threaded shank to enable the said nut by a lateral movement to be disengaged from the threaded shank when the movable jaw is to be actuated quickly.

My invention consists, essentially, in a wrench containing a stationary jaw having a shank threaded at one edge, a movable jaw placed thereon loosely, and an adjusting-nut carried by the said movable jaw, and a spring to normally engage the said nut with the threads of the said shank, the inner diameter of the said nut being enough larger than the cross-section of the said shank to permit the said nut by a lateral movement of the movable jaw to be disengaged from the said threads, as will be described, when the jaw is to be moved quickly into approximate position.

Figure 1 in side elevation shows a wrench embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a partial longitudinal section thereof; and Fig. 3, a crosssection in the line 00 00, Fig. 1.

The stationary jaw a and its attached shank a, secured to a suitable handle, as a, in usual manner, and provided at its front side with a series of teeth, as a are and may be substantially as usual.

The movable jaw b of my improved wrench is fitted to the shank a loosely before the handle a is placed thereon.

The jaw b has two loop-like portions, 1) b the opening through the loop portion 1) being sufficiently larger than the shank a to permit the said jaw b to have a slight tipping motion.

The lower loop-like portion, b, is enough longer than the loop-like portion 1) to afford ample room for the slot therein to be made long enough to permit the lower portion of the loosejaw to be moved laterally far enough to disengage from the teeth a the teeth 2 (shown in the section Fig. 2) of the adjusting-nut 0, which is placed in an open slot, 12 made in the loop-like portion I) of the movablejaw.

The adj Listing-nut referred to is made as a ring toothed at its inner side and preferably milled at its outer side to be readily engaged by the fingers, and to guide this nut in its rotations I have applied between it and the sides of the shank a suitable zone-shaped blocks, a, they being supported in the slots b of the jaw and moving on the shank with the jaw and the nut.

The movable jaw has co-operating with it a suitable spring, as d, (herein shown as a fiat steel s pring,) the function and purpose of which are to act upon the movable jaw in such manner as to normally keep the teeth 2 of the ad- -justing=nut in engagement with the teeth a but whenever it is desired to quickly adjust I the movable j aw upon the shank the operator, by pressing upon the lower end of thejaw in the direction of the arrow 3, Fig. 1, throws the lower end of thejaw far enough to the left to disengage the teeth 2 from the teeth a, and then by the thumb, which is usually used to produce the pressure referred to, the operator may quickly move thejaw in either direction upon the shank a, and as soon as the pressure is removed, which is done when the jaw is sub stantially against the nut to be turned, the spring acts quickly to again engage the teeth 2 with the teeth a, and thereafter the operator, with but a slight movement of the adj usting-nutc,willcompletesubstantiallytheclamping of the jaws upon the nut firmly. This final clamping need not take more than a partial turn of the adjustingnut. I do not desire to limit my invention to the exact shape of the spring employed.

In. the operation of my improved wrench the jaws, having been brought into approximate position, or substantially fitting the nut, are moved into final position by the partial rotation of the adjusting-nut, and at such time the 5 strain inserted upon the movable jaw is at the point 4, and as a result thereof the teeth 2 of the nut are made to more thoroughly engage the teeth a. Preferably the teeth out at the inner edge of the shank will be square in sec- 10 tion, as thereby the wrench, if dropped from the bench upon its head, will not by momentum move thejaw b upon the shank; but I do not desire to limit my invention to the exact form of teeth shown. I 5 I claim- A wrench substantially as described, it containin g a stationary j a-w having a shank threaded at one edge, a movable jaw, as b, placed thereon loosely, and an adjusting-nut interiorly threaded and mounted loosely in and 20 carried by thesaid movable jaw, and a spring to normally engage the threads of the said nut with the threads of the handle-shank, to oper ate substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name 2 to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. L. TOBEY.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, J. C. SEARs. 

